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Kathmandu Sunday July 29, 2001 Shrawan 14, 2058.
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Central, Army start with wins
Post Report
KATHMANDU, July 28 – Central region started
their 25th National Football Championship in style drubbing the Mid-western region 9-1 in
the opening game of the tournament played at the Dashrath Stadium Saturday.
The first half of the match was rather a tame
affair in spite of a fiery start by the Mid-western boys, scoring in the first minute of
the game. Bhakta Rana did not let the opportunity go begging as the Central goalie Ujjwal
Manandhar faltered right in front of the net. Although the Central team equalised in the
21st minute through Kailash Dangol header, the game remained a lackluster one.
But the situation changed as soon as the second
half started. The Central team, which so far seemed reckless, looked more organised. The
flurry of goals started as soon as Dangol scored his second goal of the match. He went on
to score his hat-trick.
Gebesh Pandey, the Central No 8, was another
player who registered his name in the
highest scorer list with the second hat-trick of the match. His third goal came in the
dying minutes of the match.
Mid-western team, who had a dream start today,
seemed to have no clue to the attacks by the central boys. Their attacks did not look
threatening enough in the second essay of the game.
The other goal scorers of the match were Raj
Kumar KC, Narayan Manandhar and Nima Lama.
In the match between Tribhuvan Club and the
Western region, Tribhuvan Club maintained its superiority beating the boys from west 3-1.
Had Babu Kaji not missed the penalty in the first half, the score could have been 4-1 in
favour of the armymen.
Though Western boys were leading 1-0 at the end
of the first half, Sahila Maharjan scored twice in the second half to defeat the Western
team. The other scorer for the army team was Padam Rai.
Central boxers dominate the day
The boxing tournament for the selection of the
9th South Asian Federation (SAF) Games to be held in Islamabad, Pakistan this October,
kicked off Saturday at the covered hall of the Dashrath stadium complex.
The day’s most competitive game was the
featherweight (57 kg) clash between Birendra Singh and Dhan Bahadur Dhitang. Singh, the
Mid-western boxer looked in good touch in the first round dominating Tribhuvan Club’s
Dhitang.
In the next round, Dhitang came up with fresh
strategies and tackled more to defend. The third round saw both the both the boxers taking
to defence.
Dhitang, taking advantage of Singh’s poor
stamina, aggressively attacked him to secure the win in the fourth round of the bout.
In the light flyweight category (48kg), Kheman
Singh Ranamagar of the Western Region defeated Gajendra Gurung of Mahendra Police Club.
Surya Ranamagar of Trivhuban Club won against Sumit KC of Far-western Region on the basis
of points. Meanwhile, Ramesh Das Shrestha of Central Region overcame Bikash Kumar Gubhaju
of the Eastern Region in the same category.
Nirmal Kunwar of Trivhuban Club won in the light
weight category (60 kg) as Khush Lal Napit of the Mid-western Region sustained injury
during the fight.
Central Region dominated the first light
welterweight category (63.5kg) bout as Kumar Adhikari quite comfortably held off Kami Lal
Moktan of Mahendra Police Club.
Udhav Singh Kunwar of Mid-western Region was
declared winner in another bout of the same category as Referee Stopped the Contest (RSC)
declaring Trivhuban Club’s Bishnu Kumar Shrestha as outclass
Suwarna Sapkota of the Central Region won the
last and day’s only light middleweight category (71kg) defeating Birendra Singh of
Eastern Region. |
